of Moses in Luther’s view is that he has prophesied concerning Christ, and by revealing the people’s sin through the teaching of the Law has made them see and feel the necessity of a redemption through the Mediator.  However, also the laws of Moses are exceedingly fine, Luther thinks.  The Ten Commandments are essentially the natural moral law implanted in the hearts of man.  But also his forensic laws, his civil statutes, his ecclesiastical ordinances, his regulations regarding the hygiene, and the public order that must be maintained in a great commonwealth, are wise and salutary.  The Catholics are forced to admit that alongside of the open contempt which Luther occasionally voices for Moses and the Mosaic righteousness inculcated by the Law there runs a cordial esteem of the great prophet.  Luther regards the Law of Moses as divine; it is to him just as much the Word of God as any other portion of the Scriptures.  To save their faces in a debate they must concede this point, but they charge Luther with being a most disorderly reasoner, driven about in his public utterances by momentary impulses:  He will set up a rule to-day which he knocks down to-morrow.  He will cite the same Principle for or against a matter.  He is so erratic that he can be adduced as authority by both sides to a controversy.  The Catholic may succeed with certain people in getting rid of Luther on the claim that his is a confused mind, and that in weighty affairs he adopts the policy of the opportunist.  Most men will demand a better explanation of the seeming self-contradiction in Luther’s attitude toward the divine Law.

There is only one connection in which Luther speaks disparagingly of the Law, and we shall show that what he says is no real disparagement, but the correct Scriptural valuation of the Law.  Luther holds that the Ten Commandments do not save any person nor contribute the least part to his salvation.  They must be entirely left out of account when such questions are to be answered as these:  How do I obtain a gracious God?  How is my sin to be forgiven?  How do I obtain a good conscience?  How can I come to I live righteously?  How can I hope to die calmly, in the confidence that I am going to heaven?  On such occasions Luther says:  Turn your eyes away from Moses and his Law; he cannot help you; you apply at the wrong office when you come to him for rest for your soul here and hereafter.  He gives you no comfort, and he cannot, because it is not his function to do so.  It is Another’s business to do that.  Him you grossly dishonor and traduce when you refuse to come to Him for what He alone can give, and when you go to some one who does not give you what you need, though you pretend that you get it from this other.  A proper relation to God is established for us only by Jesus Christ.  He is the exclusive Mediator appointed by God for His dealing with man and for man in his dealings with God.  There is salvation in none other; nor can our hope of heaven be placed on any other foundation than that which God laid when He appointed Christ our Redeemer (Acts 4, 12; 1 Cor. 3, 11).